Overview

There are a wide range of commercial motor controllers on the market that vary in complexity and performance to suit a variety of teams and their needs. However each particular controller has a very rigid set of capabilities that must then be accommodated for in other aspects of design. A controler that is optimal in one aspect is not always optimal in other ways.

Project Description

The main consideration in choosing a motor controller is integration and compatibility with the motor and batteries. After compiling a list of compatible controllers, it is not always possible to find one with the other desired features, such as CANbus connectivity, maximum current and voltage draws, regenerative braking capabilities, precharge capabilities, or ideal number of input/ output pins. The options become limited quickly and compromises must be made between features. Unfortunately these commercial motor controllers not modifiable because of the “black box” nature of the products. This has lead to repurchasing of motor controllers each year, which is expensive and time consuming to research. It would be beneficial for the team to have a motor controller that is modifiable and can be reused each year regardless of changes made to the vehicle.

Another goal that will be accomplished is to fully understand the system we are using on the car. The motor controller is arguably one of the most important components on the car, and the team is unfortunately still ignorant of the actual process of the controller. By taking time to research and design this component, the team can meet every design criteria and allow future cars to add additional components when needed. By creating a basic coding structure and setting up the system with extra I/O pins, future work can be eliminated by allowing the team to reuse the base code and spend more time improving the existing content.

The link to the PRP is here

Project Name

Hot Wheelz Motor Controller

Project Number

P19280

Project Family

Performance Vehicles

Start Term

2181

End Term

2185

Faculty Guide

Harold Paschal, Paschal@alum.rit.edu

Primary Customer

Martin Schooping, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard

Sponsor (financial support)

RIT Hot Wheelz Team

Supplemental funding provided by a gift from Harris Corporation

Planning & Execution

Project Photos and Videos

Imagine RIT

Gate Reviews

Problem Definition

Systems Design

Preliminary Detailed Design

Detailed Design

Build & Test Prep

Subsystem Build & Test

Integrated System Build & Test

Customer Handoff & Final Project Documentation (Verification & Validation)